What's going on: More than 1,000 dead in China mudslides

View full sizeThe Associated PressA Chinese soldier carrying disaster relief walks across the mudslide-hit town of Zhouqu in northwest China's Gansu province on Friday. New landslides killed dozens of people in China's remote northwest as downpours threatened more devastation and made rescue work nearly impossible in a region where more than 1,000 people have died.

Heavy rain across western China has caused more mudslides and flooding, killing at least 29 people and trapping more than 10,500 in the latest natural disasters to hit the country, state media said on Friday.

In Longnan, in poor and remote Gansu province, 20 died and more than 10,000 were trapped following torrential rains and landslides, state television said.

Another four died in Gansu's Tianshui city and dozens are missing province-wide.

More than 1,000 people died in the nearby town of Zhouqu when an avalanche of mud roared down the slopes of a mountain last weekend after unusually strong downpours.